


Not The Gumdrop Buttons

by simplyambyy



Series: A Celebration of Buddie [5]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Gingerbread House, Gingerbread House Decorating, Gingerbread house competition, Holiday, Karen is a kindergarten teacher, M/M, The show never gave her a job and I felt that fit her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21706687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyambyy/pseuds/simplyambyy
Summary: "What happens if we win?" Christopher asked, spreading icing on a wall piece with a plastic butter knife."When we win," Eddie whispered to his son, though it was loud enough for Buck to hear."Well, usually winners get to smash the losers' house." He chanced a look up at Hen who had heard his words and given him a stink eye. He quickly looked back at Christopher. "But I think Hen would kill us, specifically me, if we even think about touching Denny's gingerbread house so the loser will just have to buy the winners ice cream."
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson
Series: A Celebration of Buddie [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562698
Comments: 4
Kudos: 108





	Not The Gumdrop Buttons

"There is no way we're letting them beat us," Buck said to Eddie and Christopher as they hunched together over the coffee table in Hen and Karen's living room.

Spread out across the the small table were pre-cut pieces of gingerbread, bowls and filled sandwich bags of icing and an assortment of candies, sprinkles, pretzels, and other things they were allowed to use during the gingerbread house competition. The competition was an annual Buckley Christmas tradition, one that Buck hadn't participated in, in the four years since that was the last time he went home to see his family. But when Eddie shared that Christopher had saw the kits in the store and wanted to make one, something Hen said Denny would also enjoy, Buck decided that it was time to bring back the tradition. 

Which is how Eddie, Buck and Christopher ended up sitting on the Wilsons' living room floor while Hen, Karen, and Denny worked at the kitchen table on their own project. 

"What happens if we win?" Christopher asked, spreading icing on a wall piece with a plastic butter knife.

" _When_ we win," Eddie whispered to his son, though it was loud enough for Buck to hear.

"Well, usually winners get to smash the losers' house." He chanced a look up at Hen who had heard his words and given him a stink eye. He quickly looked back at Christopher. "But I think Hen would kill us, specifically me, if we even think about touching Denny's gingerbread house so the loser will just have to buy the winners ice cream." 

He looked back towards Hen who was smirking as she stuck two pieces of their house together. Buck definitely did not want to touch Denny's gingerbread house. At home in Hershey, Pennsylvania, everyone was pretty competitive and while nobody wanted their house broken, it was a part of the rules. The young kids never lost, usually sitting somewhere in the middle of the score ranking, but one of the adults or teenagers would get their house smashed, pout for a while, and then join in on eating it. 

His grandmother was usually the one who chose the winner, but this year, it would be Maddie, who would be contacted via Facetime since she and Chimney had their own plans for the day and couldn't judge in-person. She was 100-percent in support of the competition, though, seeing as it had been a while since she had been home for the holidays, even longer than Buck. He just hoped his sister wouldn't be above a little nepotism when it came time to judge.

"You got a little..." Eddie started, looking at Bucks face and wiping at his own cheek. 

Buck reached up and tried to mirror him as he searched for the icing on his face. Eddie shook his face twice before a soft "here," came out of his mouth. He reached out and swiped at the small glob of icing on his chin, thumb brushing his bottom lip as he did so. The brunet put his thumb in his mouth, licking off the icing and wiping his wet finger on a spare napkin he had before going back to what he was doing. 

"You alright, Buck?" 

He looked up to see Hen looking in his direction, a knowing smile on her lips. He closed his mouth that hung slightly ajar at Eddie's action. He nodded his head, clearing his throat.

"Y-yeah, just trying to wrap my head around the fact that Eddie just mom'ed me."

Both Hen and Karen laughed at the shocked look on Eddie's face.

"I did not 'mom' you."

"You totally did, Eddie," Karen said, not even looking in their direction as she picked out green M&M's from a glass bowl on her table.

"Daddy does that to me all the time," Christopher said, placing red and green peppermints on the wall he had just iced.

"So, he dad'ed me," Buck said, smirking at Eddie who rolled his eyes.

The next hour passed slowly yet quickly at the same time. Buck missed the laughs, the jokes, and the taunts during this type of holiday competition. The Wilsons' were competitive as well, but of course, both groups kept things pretty mild for the sake of the kids. It was also great spending time with two of his favorite people.

Christopher worked hard to keep things from being messy, something that Buck had noticed as he spent more time with him. He wasn't sure if it was because he tried to overcompensate for the limitations that came with CP, because that how his father was due to his time in the military and had a need for order, or if that's just something he developed on his own. Any time Eddie or Buck made sloppy lines with the icing or used the wrong colored candy for decoration, Christopher would stop what he was doing to fix it.

Eddie was...Eddie was making it hard for Buck to concentrate on his tasks at hand. He was always doing something that stole Buck's attention. Sometimes, he would whistle or hum some song to himself. Other times, he would be completely wrapped up in his son, asking him questions lowly, or just looking at him with so much love and adoration that even a blind man would be able to see it.

Whenever Buck would realize he was starring, he'd look up to see if anyone else caught him. It'd usually be Hen, giving him a small smile, eyes filled with a knowing glint. Buck would blush and look back down, going back to work. 

The timer in the kitchen, which had been set to an hour and a half, broke though the last five minutes of silence and occasional murmurs. Everyone had been so focused on putting the final touch of their houses that they jumped at the sudden sound. Buck dropped the sandwich bag of icing, which he had been using to pipe icing icicles along the roof trim, onto the coffee table and raised his hands up.

"Hands up everyone one!...Aht, Kareeen..." He pointed one finger to Hen's wife who had been trying to fix a misplaced piece of candy.

She immediately put her hands up, knowing she had been caught. Seeing that everyone's hands were away from the houses, Buck climbed to his feet and headed into the kitchen to turn off the timer. he came back rubbing his hands together. 

"Alright, time to see who won."

Maddie Buckley was a fair woman and refused to let nepotism or girl code affect her decision. She would, however, allow the 'kids never lose' Buckley rule blind her to the fact that Christopher's team obviously won...if you asked Buck and Eddie. 

"I'm sorry, guys, but it's a tie," Maddie said, shrugging on the screen of Buck's iPhone.

She had just given the results after pointing out the cleanliness and artistic simplicity of the Buckley-Diaz house as well as the creative design of the Wilson house with its chimney, snowman, and pretzel reindeer additions. Buck was clearly unhappy with the tie.

"Karen's a friggin' kindergarten teacher. Of course she knows how to make reindeer out of pretzels," Buck complained. "They should've started off with negative-thirty points."

Maddie rolled her eyes. The point-system of the competition was absolutely made up and made absolutely no sense. One could get fifty points for making trees out of candy canes, but lose ten because they used spearmint gumdrops anywhere which was their grandmother's least favorite flavor. 

"Sorry, Buck, but rules are rules." She gave him a soft smile. "Hey, I have to go, but I'm glad you had a great time, and that you decided to do this with Denny and Christopher."

Buck shrugged, his pout shifting into a returning smile. "Yeah, well, I figured it was time to bring this one back."

He turned to look and see that Eddie and Karen were with the kids, pointing out and showing off each other's creations which had been moved to sit next to each other during the judging. Hen had already started to clean up the mess. Buck turned back to his phone as his sister spoke again, saying her official goodbye which he returned. 

"Let me help you with that, " Buck said, heading over to Hen and grabbing some of the leftover decorations from her hands. She smiled.


End file.
